Chapter 16 Learning through maps

Transcription

1 Chapter 16 Learning through maps Paul Weeden Maps and plans are extremely useful ways of storing and communicating information about places and the people who live and work in them. There is a language of maps, and pupils can be helped to understand and use it just as they can be helped with any other language development. (Beddis 1983:5) Maps are an important form of communication, and for some authors graphicacy has been placed alongside numeracy, literacy and oracy as the fourth ace in the pack (Balchin and Coleman 1965). This chapter looks at the centrality of maps to geography teaching and how maps are used as a communication system. An outline of the properties, elements and purposes of maps is illustrated by three examples of strategies children use to read maps. The final section considers how theories of cognitive development inform progression in learning through maps. THE CENTRALITY OF MAPS Geography studies the relationship between people and the earth and in particular considers place, space and environment. In investigating places and geographical themes, geographers describe and explain the patterns and processes they observe in the world around them. Thus investigation of spatial patterns and the development of locational knowledge form distinctive and central parts of the discipline, with the map in all its forms being a vital tool in this process. What must be remembered, however, is that maps are merely one form of communication or evidence used by geographers and in the investigation of a place, all kinds of evidence, literary, statistical, cultural are examined (Daugherty 1989:30). THE MAP AS A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM Most geographical literature includes a variety of maps which need to be read. The clarity of the message depends on the skill of the map-maker in presenting the information and the user s ability to read and interpret the signals. The model of the map as a communication system (Fig. 16.1) demonstrates the need for a common understanding of map language otherwise there will be confusion and misunderstanding. As with any language the common conventions and the structure have to be learnt if the message is to make any sense. There is considerable evidence that children do this best through a structured program involving practice both in the individual elements and in synthesizing them. Decoding maps involves learning how to read a map. Unlike reading a book there is no conventional method for reading a map (e.g. from left to right across the page), so skilled map-readers may use strategies such as initial random scanning to identify features or familiar names and then focus on their area of interest or they may look for larger recognizable patterns. Beginner map-users need clear guidance on where and how to start reading the map. The Geography National Curriculum (DFE 1995) lists the making, using and interpreting of maps as the map skills that children should learn. The author suggests that these Page 1

2 terms are loosely defined and proposes four strands of learning through maps using, making, reading, and interpreting defining these command words more precisely as: using maps relating features on a map directly to features in the landscape; making maps encoding information in map form; reading maps decoding successfully the elements of map language; interpreting maps being able to relate prior geographical knowledge to the features and patterns observed on the map. THE PROPERTIES OF MAPS If systematic learning through maps is to occur, both teacher and pupil should be aware of the essential basic properties of maps that determine most map skills development programs. Gerber and Wilson (1989:202), in describing a sequential mapping program for secondary age children, propose four essential properties of maps that need to be understood plan view, arrangement, proportion, and map language. These properties should form the basis of map work skills development for any age-group and can be introduced individually and then integrated. Plan view (perspective and relief) Maps are drawn looking vertically down on an area, which enables the user to see features which may be hidden from them on the ground. The concept needs to be introduced and practiced because the plan view is an unfamiliar viewpoint. Children are much more familiar with elevations, and initially commonly draw houses from this perspective. There is nothing wrong with this naive map representation as a form of symbolism, but they should be encouraged to think about the picture of the house from above. There are many opportunities for children to look down on things, such as high buildings, planes, aerial photographs and images on television, films or computer games. Vertical aerial photographs illustrate some of the problems in representing height or slope on a map as the two-dimensional photograph often gives little impression of the third dimension of height. The representation of relief on a map is an important but difficult idea for children to deal with. Contours, the commonest form of relief representation, are also the commonest cause of confusion for most map-readers as they form complex patterns and are often obscured by other features or create noise that is distracting. Arrangement (location, direction and orientation) Places or features on maps have a location that can be both absolutely defined (by a system such as grid references) and described in relation to other places (left of, north of, etc.). This enables map-users to locate specific places more easily and quickly on complex maps. Direction can be absolute (using a constant reference system N, E, S, W) or relative to the user s position. The concept of absolute space means that objects or places stay in the same relationship to each other and are not affected by the position of the map user (an important map-using skill is orienting the map to match the arrangement of observed objects) Page 2

3 Proportion (scale, distance and selection) Maps reduce the size of objects on the ground so that the object can be represented on a small piece of paper. It is usually important that relative size is maintained, but in some cases important features are drawn larger than their true scale (e.g roads on Ordnance Survey maps). Distance can be measured using a scale, but involves numerical manipulation and often requires a series of complex procedures. Scale is therefore another area of difficulty for many mapreaders. The reduction in size means some detail will be lost, involving the map-maker in selection of items to be included. Thus, while aerial photographs record everything seen at a particular time, maps are generalizations which, in improving clarity, can result in bias and omission. Map language (signs, symbols, words and numbers) Maps show information by the use of signs and symbols, and extra information is available through the use of words, letters and numbers which help decoding and interpretation. Skilled map-users learn not just to read the symbols but also to interpret the spatial patterns by drawing on their geographical knowledge. When learning map language it is helpful to recognize that map symbols and information can be classified into three types points, lines or areas. The symbols used can be classified on a continuum from pictorial to abstract with the more abstract symbols generally being more liable to misinterpretation. Figure 16.2 shows a map that employs a range of point, line and area symbols. The key helps in the interpretation of the symbols but in this case some symbols have been omitted because the features are named. The point symbols range from pictorial symbols such as the airplane representing an airfield to an abstract symbol for a sports centre. The line symbols range from representing features seen on the ground such as roads or rivers to more abstract features such as the city boundary. The area symbols on figure 16.2 are pictorial and concrete (wood, golf course) but other maps might represent more abstract features such as areas with high pollution levels in a city. Written information can range from letters (to represent schools), to words (names of important places), to numbers which can relate to features such as grid lines or spot heights. To summarize, children should learn that maps usually: adopt a plan view perspective; arrange the features in the same relationship as they are found in real life; keep features in accurate proportion to their real size; involve the selection of information; employ a recognizable map language. Conventionally, maps also have a tide, a key to define the symbols, an indication of orientation (direction indicator) and a scale line. Page 3

4 THE PURPOSES OF MAPS The ability to encode and decode information on maps is useful not just in geography but also in everyday life. Maps are used in a wide variety of contexts which can be classified into four main functions (adapted from Catling 1988:168 and Wiegand 1993:19): location, enabling the user to find a place (e.g. in an atlas, on a street map); route-displaying, allowing the user to get from A to B (e.g. a road atlas, underground map or street map); storing and displaying information, allowing the user to isolate and sort information from a wide range of different items (e.g. OS maps), or to consider patterns and relationships of selected information (e.g. distribution maps); problem-solving, helping the user to solve problems by interpreting or inferring from the information provided (e.g. why a road does not take the most direct route or where to locate a factory). Skilled map-users have learnt to see the landscape from the information on the map. STRATEGIES CHILDREN USE FOR LEARNING THROUGH MAPS: THREE CASE- STUDIES These case-studies illustrate the thinking strategies children use while working with maps. Each case-study is accompanied by a short commentary that considers both the thinking strategies used and indicates some problematic areas in working with maps. Locational knowledge Jane (year 4, age 8) is locating places and features she has been studying on a map of the British Isles. She remembers that England, Wales and Scotland are the names of the countries of Great Britain and that Scotland is above England, and Wales is a bump to one side. She knows that London is a city and that a city is smaller than a country. She uses the key to find out the symbol for a city. She remembers the approximate location of London having looked at a road atlas when she went there with her family. She knows a river is a wiggly line on a map and that London is on the River Thames. She unsuccessfully guesses where to locate Birmingham, her home town, as she only knows it is north of London. Jane s thinking involved recalling from her memory the names of several places and features. To locate the places successfully she had to classify the different features and have some understanding of the terms country, city, river. Her recognition of the shapes and arrangement of features in the British Isles enabled her to synthesize this knowledge while the words in the key gave her extra clues in decoding the map. She had difficulty with locating her home town, Birmingham, partly because there are no recognizable features nearby and because her awareness of distance is poor. The route from home to school Thomas (year 6, age 11), when asked to draw a map of his journey to school as part of a topic on his locality, says, That s easy. He starts by trying to visualize the journey and seeing whether he can fit it on the paper. Home is marked first in one corner of the map and the roads on the Page 4

5 route drawn sequentially and topologically until he reaches school, which is squeezed into the far corner of the sheet. Considerable thought is required to clarify relationships and there are some mistakes, rubbings out and re-drawings before the route is complete. When asked to add on further detail, he includes nearby roads, their names, pictorial symbols, a key and a direction arrow. He works out the direction of south, from his knowledge of the position of the sun at midday at his home, and is then able to work out the rest of the compass points. Thomas, in his thinking, used daily experiences stored in his memory to problem-solve. This ability to recall his mental picture of the area combined with a clear understanding of map properties enabled him to work out logically the arrangement of familiar roads and to create a recognizable map. He had difficulties with distance, so the map was not drawn to scale (roads nearer home were overemphasized), and he ran out of space on the paper as he approached the school. He demonstrated the difficulties most people have in drawing mental maps, because of the need to recall and synthesize complex patterns and arrangements. However, he also showed how useful mental maps are for teachers in giving information about pupils knowledge and understanding of map skills and places. Interpreting patterns David (year 11, age 16), when asked to describe and explain the patterns on a map as part of a GCSE examination question, starts by analyzing the question. He decides the key word is redevelopment area, finds the symbol for this in the key, and locates the areas correctly on the map. He describes their arrangement (in a tight ring around the city centre) and draws on his knowledge of urban models to recall the main features of this area. He also applies this knowledge by picturing a redevelopment area in his home town and remembers that the older buildings have been knocked down and rebuilt. He does not immediately use the scale to help him work out how far from the city centre the areas are; rather, he senses their proximity and only later confirms it. He recognizes the line around the city as a boundary of some sort and uses the key to identify it as the city boundary. David s thinking involved a complex interaction of knowledge recall and synthesizing information from the map. His familiarity with maps enabled him to recognize the pattern of the redevelopment areas and to put them into a meaningful context. He moved quickly from description into the processing of his stored geographical knowledge and was able to read and interpret the information on the map in a sophisticated manner. These case-studies illustrate how map language is used in the making, reading and interpretation of maps. Jane and Thomas show how they can draw on their own memories and perceptions of places, arrange their thoughts and synthesize information to complete the task. They are both familiar with the main properties of maps but demonstrate some of the difficulties of encoding information onto a map. In decoding the information on the map David illustrates clearly the difference between map reading and map-interpreting. The symbols on the map can be read like the words in a book, but they have little meaning unless they can be combined to make sentences. If the map users have other geographical knowledge they can draw inferences and make interpretations more akin to reading between the lines in a written passage. The casestudies demonstrate how learning through maps involves developing map skills in a range of Page 5

6 contexts. They illustrate how pupils when using maps have to combine thinking about the maps themselves with their knowledge of geography, and that the best map-based activities will encourage work that is purposeful and appropriate to their age. HOW THEORIES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT INFORM PROGRESSION IN LEARNING THROUGH MAPS Geographical education has always been concerned with the systematic teaching and learning of map skills. There are many detailed accounts of appropriate teaching and learning programs, such as Boardman (1986), Catling (1988), Gerber and Wilson (1989), Foley and Janikoun (1992), Wiegand (1993) and Catling (1995). This section will not outline a program of work, but looks instead at some of the theories of cognitive development (that inform our understanding of progression in map skills) and indicates how these theories can be related to learning. Theories of cognitive development Meadows (1993: ) suggests there are three major current models of cognitive development: Piaget s model of stages, information processing models and Neo-Vygotskian models. The most influential of these for learning through maps has been Piaget, although there has been criticism of the way that Piaget s work has been misused by some educationalists who, by slavishly adhering to fixed stages, have underestimated children s abilities in using maps. Piaget s model Piaget s work is based on a biological model of adaptation. The child, or indeed the adult, is all its life actively trying to make sense of the world, just as any organism must try to adapt to its environment (Meadows 1993:198). Piaget s model has been characterized by educationalists as suggesting that thinking develops in a series of stages, the sensori-motor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational stages. These stages of development follow an invariant order and each stage can be associated with a certain mental age, so that a mental age of 8 typically goes with the concrete operational stage, while a mental age of 4 is associated with the pre-operational stage. This relatively simple model has been discussed and elaborated by authors such as Boardman (1983) and has led to a sequential program for the development of map skills which has been adopted in many schools. It is clear from this experience that most children benefit from starting to learn about maps in a concrete manner in an environment they are familiar with (classroom, school, locality) and only at a later stage moving onto more abstract maps. However, it must be remembered that Piaget did not see his model of stages as a teaching model and it is now recognized as merely one way of thinking about cognitive development. Information processing Information processing models use the metaphor of the brain as a computer and there has been some work done simulating children s spatial abilities with computers (Spencer, Blades and Morsley, 1989:19). The case studies in this chapter illustrate how skilled map-users operate like computers and are able to make connections between observed patterns and stored knowledge. The speed of the information processing will depend upon experience, practice and ability. The Page 6

7 links between this model and a teaching and learning program for schools have not been explored in the literature. Neo-Vygotskian models Meadows (1993:236), suggests that both Piagetian and information processing models emphasize the psychological structures inside people s minds while Neo-Vygotskian ideas have the premise that social interaction is paramount. If, as Vygotsky suggests, language has the power to shape mental development and social interaction is a prime way in which people learn what the child can do co-operatively today she will be able to do individually tomorrow (Knight 1993:26) then this has implications for learning. In contrast to Piaget the Neo-Vygotskian model has an underlying belief that education can accelerate development, which leads to the concept of scaffolding learning. For instance the concept of plan view can be introduced by looking down on objects arranged on a desk and discussing this view. Rhodes (1994:111) has shown how in making choices about best routes for different transport networks, relief models and maps can be used by year 6 children, working in groups, to interpret relief and slope patterns. In most cases these children are thinking at, or just beyond, their most advanced, current understanding (Vygotsky s zone of proximal development (ZPD)) and engaging in learning through social interaction. An important idea that emerges from these three theories, an idea of increasing importance in understanding how we think, is the concept of metacognition. Metacognition While some pupils may develop map skills by a process of osmosis through exposure to maps, learning for most is aided by clear and focused guidance, particularly if they are helped to think about their thinking (metacognition). Knight (1993:35) describes metacognition as helping children to be conscious of what they know and can do and then teaching them how to draw purposefully on that knowledge and to deploy it when working on problems. Teachers can encourage pupils to think about their learning by asking, How did you reach that answer?, or challenging them to justify an answer. Orienteers do this when they discuss and analyze their route finding after an event. Often there is a choice between a shorter direct route, that may be slower because it goes through dense woodland, and a longer faster route along paths. By analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of each route the orienteers are increasing their familiarity with the range of information on the map and their ability to make successful interpretations. Discussion and disagreement can lead to metacognitive conflict and hence metacognitive advance (Meadows 1993:81). CONCLUSIONS Geographers regard maps as tools that enable them to communicate knowledge and understanding of place, space and environment. In particular, maps enable a consideration of the Page 7

8 spatial patterns that are central to geography. To develop their familiarity with maps fully, children should have the opportunity to use, make, read and interpret maps in a variety of contexts. Any program of teaching and learning developed should introduce the four basic properties of maps (plan view, arrangement, proportion, and map language) separately, but find ways of relating them to each other. Children can be helped with their understanding of map language if they recognize that map symbols can be points, lines or areas and are on a continuum of complexity from pictorial to abstract. Children learn more effectively from maps if they have a clear idea of the purpose of the task being undertaken. These tasks can be linked to the four main purposes of maps (location, routedisplaying, storing and displaying information, and problem-solving). In addition, successful interpretation of maps requires not just recognition of symbols and patterns but the synthesis of information from the map with other geographical knowledge. Finally, our understanding of cognitive development suggests that children should work initially from direct experience (particularly with younger children or when introducing new or difficult concepts such as scale or relief) only later moving onto more abstract maps, and that they should be encouraged to think actively about their thinking (metacognition) since this aids the process of synthesizing and developing interpretation skills. REFERENCES Balchin, W.G.V. and Coleman, A.M. (1965) Graphicacy should be the fourth ace in the pack, The Times Educational Supplement, 5 November Beddis, R. (1983) Introduction in T.Johnson, (ed.) Maps and Mapwork A Practical Guide to Maps and Mapwork in the Primary School, Bristol: RLDU. Blades, M and Spencer, C. (1986) Map use by young children, Geography 71: Boardman, D. (1983) Graphicacy and Geography Teaching, London: Groom Helm. Boardman, D. (1986) Map reading skills, in D.Boardman (ed.) Handbook for Geography Teachers, Sheffield: Geographical Association. Boardman, D. (1989) The development of graphicacy: children s understanding of maps, Geography 74: Boardman, D. (1991) Developing map skills in the National Curriculum, Teaching Geography 16: Catling, S.J. (1979) Maps and cognitive maps: the young child s perception, Geography 64: Catling, S.J. (1988) Using maps and aerial photographs, in D.Mills (ed.) Geographical work in Primary and Middle Schools, Sheffield: Geographical Association. Page 8

9 Catling, S.J. (1995) Mapping the environment with children, in M.de Villiers Developments in Primary Geography, Sheffield: Geographical Association. Daugherty, R, (ed.) (1989) Geography in the National Curriculum, Sheffield: Geographical Association. DFE (1995) Geography in the National Curriculum, London: HMSO. Foley, M. and Janikoun, J. (1992) The Really Practical Guide to Primary Geography, Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes. Gerber, R. and Wilson, P. (1989) Using maps well in the geography classroom, in J.Fien, R.Gerber and P.Wilson (eds) The Geography Teacher s Guide to the Classroom, Melbourne: Macmillan. Knight, P. (1993) Primary Geography, Primary History, London: David Fulton. Matthews, M.H. (1984) Cognitive mapping abilities of young boys and girls, Geography 69: Meadows, S. (1993) The Child as Thinker, London: Routledge. Rhodes, B. (1994) Learning curves and map contours, Teaching Geography 19: Spencer, C, Blades, M. and Morsley, K. (1989) The Child in the Physical Environment, Chichester: John Wiley. Wiegand, P. (1993) Children and Primary Geography, London: Cassell. Williams, Michael. Teaching and Learning Geography. London, GBR: Routledge, p Page 9